ThinkPad X131e Chromebook The Chromebook is now officially 2 years old, with the original model CR-48 officially long-in-the-tooth and left behind. After the initially testing period of the CR-48, Samsung and Acer have made their best, and different efforts at selling the platform for outrageously low prices. Since the release of Samsung and Acer’s latest [...]
Kickstarter Changes: Blessing or Damnation?
It seems like every day there is a new open hardware or software project popping up on Kickstarter, and here at “The Powerbase“, we try to cover the best of the bunch to get them the exposure they deserve. Many projects which otherwise may have never seen the light of day have gotten the funding [...]
Getting Your Hands Dirty: Teensy USB Development Board Review
Here at “The Powerbase”, we usually keep things firmly in the consumer hardware and software area; about the most intensive work we do is compile software from source if there’s no binary available. But in the era of “Makers”, hardware development has become so cheap and easy that literally anyone can get into electronics without [...]
OsciPrime: Open Source Oscilloscope for Android
Since 2010, the OsciPrime project has aimed to turn your Android smartphone or tablet into a fully functional oscilloscope. From its simple beginnings as a school project to the current run of dedicated hardware, OsciPrime is an excellent example of a open source product’s creation from start to finish. OsciPrime Legacy The original version of OsciPrime, now referred to as [...]
Fedora Irresponsibly Lowers Memory Requirement To 512MB
Fedora 17 now officially sets it’s memory requirement for installation to 512MB. Before Fedora 17, the requirements and been a similarly unrealistic 768MB. A standard desktop installation with Gnome 3 in tow will not be able to perform realistically for any user. Of course Fedora is good for a great many configurations, including different desktop [...]
TRS-80 Model 100: Back From The Brink
The TRS-80 Model 100 is a computer you owe a lot to, even if you don’t recognize it. Released in 1983 by Tandy (now known as RadioShack) for $1099 USD, the Model 100 was one of the world’s first “notebook” computers. At the time its design was radical, as computers had always been large objects [...]